Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's most storied contests, this fixture involving Leicester versus Bath was as much about the emotion during the interval as any rugby during play.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Tigers old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody wore the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester remained still at their very best, whereas their opponents were situated in the middle of a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Reception on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, this famous ground remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for Leicester, darted blind, before Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle landed the penalty from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
Contrasting Game Plans
Bath were sublime with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their pack comprehensively bested at the set piece for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Cracknell's score for Leicester. Then, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith powered over for tries either side of half-time.
A Tense Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
